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Money

How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy – and What We Can Do About It

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
Why a return to sound money is our only hope for a true recovery and a healthy global economy

"Money clearly illustrates that sound money is an essential foundation for a free and prosperous society and that the Federal Reserve's current policies are a greater threat to the economic future of the U.S. than government deficit spending. This is an important book well worth reading." — John A. Allison, President and CEO, Cato Institute, and author of the New York Times bestselling The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure

"Few topics today are as misunderstood as the subject of money. Steve Forbes understands money better than most heads of state do, and in this provocative book he shares his vast knowledge and gives us sensible and time-tested recommendations for stopping future financial meltdowns." — Lawrence Kudlow, CNBC Senior Contributor

"Economic and monetary policies can be difficult to master for even the savviest politicians. Money effectively communicates these complexities into a cohesive argument for economic recovery and preventing a new financial crisis. Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames deliver a gripping read and an intriguing viewpoint on how to get our economy back on track." —Greta Van Susteren, host of On the Record, Fox News Channel

Few topics are as misunderstood today as the subject of money. Since the U.S. abandoned a gold-linked dollar more than four decades ago, the world's governments have slid into a dangerous ignorance of the fundamental monetary principles that guided the world's most successful economies for centuries. Today's wrong-headed monetary policies are now setting the stage for a new global economic and social catastrophe that could rival the recent financial crisis and even the horrors of the 1930s. Coauthored by Steve Forbes, one of the world's leading experts on finance, Money shows you why that doesn't need to happen—and how to prevent it.

After reading this entertaining and hugely well-informed book, you will know more about money than most people in the highest government positions today. Money explains why a return to sound money is absolutely essential if the U.S. and other nations are ever to overcome today's problems. Stable money, Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames argue, is the only way to a true recovery and a stable and prosperous economy.

Today's system of fluctuating "fiat" money, in which governments manipulate the value of the dollar and other currencies, has been responsible for the biggest economic failures of recent decades, including the 2008 financial crisis, from whose effects we continue to suffer. The Obama/Bernanke/Yellen Federal Reserve and its unstable dollar policies are accelerating our course toward disaster, the authors show, in numerous convincing examples. In Money, Forbes and Ames answer these crucial questions:

What is the difference between money and value? What is real wealth?

How does sound money contribute to a well-functioning society?

How have our money policy errors led to the current problems in global financial markets?

What can we do now to reestablish the strength of the dollar and other currencies?

The authors argue that the most effective way to return to a sound money policy and a healthy economy is to put the dollar back on a gold standard, and they outline the several different forms a gold standard could take. They also share invaluable suggestions for how to preserve our wealth and where to invest our money.

Money is essential reading for anyone interested in this crucially...

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 28, 2014
      Forbes and Ames have previously coauthored books on capitalism (How Capitalism Will Save Us) and freedom (Freedom Manifesto) to pitch free market and libertarian views. Here they take aim at central bank policies that “reflect the political whims of government” and damage markets by “sending false signals.” Alarmed by a “fiat money” system, monetary expansion, and the possible destruction of the dollar, they advocate returning to a gold standard. Only a gold-based currency, they suggest, promises stability and an end to the injurious speculative volatility of the past 40 years. Forbes and Ames’s case can be persuasive, especially on “stimulus” and inflationary risk. Forbes, publisher and former presidential candidate, can deliver a large and enthusiastic audience; his decades-old idea of a flat tax remains popular. Anxious “gold bugs” are likely to eagerly seize the authors’ propositions. But barring apocalyptic events and world economic collapse, reactivating the gold standard remains unlikely in the near future; the Federal Reserve System and sovereign currencies seem here to stay. Forbes and Ames’s solutions will convince few political economists or bankers to change their minds, but they might respond that this is the heart of the problem. Agent: Jim Hornfischer, Hornfischer Literary Management.

    • Kirkus

      June 1, 2014
      Multimillionaire Forbes and previous co-author Ames (Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn't, 2012, etc.) argue that a monetary system based on a sound and stable currency is "our best hope of finally achieving a genuine recovery."Ever since the United States abandoned the gold standard more than 40 years ago, the value of the dollar has been at the mercy of the Federal Reserve and other central banks whose policies reflect the political whims of governments. The result-a weakened dollar-has slowly destroyed wealth, destabilized the global economy and caused a host of problems, from the subprime bubble to high food and fuel prices to declining mobility and higher unemployment. Yet many in the policy establishment who are "steeped in the superstitions of Keynesian/monetarist dogma" refuse to consider the idea of a return to the gold standard out of a misplaced fear that gold would mean a "rigidly fixed money supply." In fact, the authors write, "gold is far more flexible than people generally acknowledge." Aiming to demystify the subject of money to help spur debate and a return to the gold standard, they offer lucid discussions of the role of money (as a means of measurement, trust and communication), the critical need for a stable monetary value, and how any artificial manipulation of currency values can produce adverse social consequences. "When money becomes unstable, trust unravels," they note, pointing to historical ties between inflation and higher rates of crime, corruption and unrest. A return to sound money will usher in long-term growth to the benefit of both the U.S. and the global economy.A brief, straightforward, decent case for returning the dollar to the gold standard, sure to attract opposing arguments.

      COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      July 1, 2014

      Coauthors Forbes, chairman and editor in chief of Forbes Media, and Ames, a communications executive, previously collaborated on How Capitalism will Save Us and Freedom Manifesto. Here, they argue that the U.S. dollar needs to be strengthened by returning to a gold standard. The authors write that the current Federal Reserve policy based upon Keynesian economics weakens the dollar without stimulating the economy in any lasting manner. They propose to establish by law a set ratio between gold and the U.S. dollar to create a stable yardstick of value that will instill trust in the currency. Forbes and Ames argue that this will alleviate a host of ills including government overspending, inflation, high interest rates, crime, speculative trading, and a chaotic economy in general. They also include advice for investors trying to cope in the current economic environment. Clearly, this book is a partisan polemic in favor of putting the dollar back on the gold standard while discounting possible pitfalls of that action, but the authors write intelligibly for a general audience and make a persuasive case on the dangers of inflation and a weak currency. VERDICT While this work will certainly resonate with "gold bugs" and others suspicious of the Federal Reserve, it also offers thoughtful reading for anyone concerned about today's economic malaise.--Lawrence Maxted, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA

      Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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